Inside the head of an unusual harpist. Reflections on playing, teaching, learning, music in general, and life all together...

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Houses and Harps

I have never been a homeowner, but from what I can tell, it's a big decision, and often times not an easy one. One of my housemates, Royce, was telling me yesterday about how there is a lot of emotion that goes into buying or selling a house. He was talking specifically about selling, and how it's sad because a house represents memories and a period of life that won't be revisited, or at least not in the same way. He spoke about one of his houses, which happens to have been his vacation home in the North-Eastern US where he and his family vacationed for years. It was a beauty, nestled up to a lake, warm in the winter, cool in the summer… you get the idea.

Since retiring and moving to France, Royce and his wife recently sold this house to make it feasible to buy another. Despite the excitement and thrill of buying a great house on the Cote d'Azur, he was still just bummed about letting this other house go.

The only thing I can relate it to is selling a harp, which I happened to do about 3 weeks ago. Her name was Austin. She was a beauty. She was "home" to me, in some crazy way. So many memories with her! And such a significant period we spent together. It's sad. The thrill and excitement of one day buying another will some day come, I hope. But I'll still miss Austin.

Someone once said that we should "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Harp and houses are temporary; we can't take them with us to our grave. What remains will be the unseen.

So for now, it's me and Dave (my other harp). It's the start of a new season for me in a lot of ways: I'm shifting gears in my music, in between a "real" place to live, closing the France chapter and moving back to the States soon, and taking a hard look at personal growth.